AMA Journal of Ethics®

Illuminating the art of medicine

AMA Journal of Ethics®

Illuminating the art of medicine

Virtual Mentor. June 2012, Volume 14, Number 6: 437-526.

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June 2012 Contents

Psychiatry in a Brave New World

Ethics Poll

If, at some future point, neuroscience were to connect all human behaviors to specific, localized neurochemical activity in the brain, could humans still be held accountable for their choices and actions?

Yes.

No.

Don't know.

People have many opportunities to make their thoughts and ideas public through Facebook, blogging, and other social media outlets. Is it ethical for a psychiatrist to read what a patient has posted on a social media outlet or blogged on the Internet?

Only with the patient's permission; otherwise it is an invasion of privacy.

With or without the patient's permission.

Only when the psychiatrist believes that the patient is a danger to him- or her-self or others.

Should psychiatrists' treatment notes be inaccessible (behind a firewall) to all others who read a patient's electronic medical record. (Select the best answer.)